Brendon LaBatte stands tall in the trenches
SASKATOON — Brendon LaBatte is exactly where he always wanted to be.
Sure, he played other sports as a kid. But playing catcher in baseball only helped to give him the flexibility in his hips and knees that aided his development as an offensive lineman.
And make no mistake: When LaBatte started playing football as a Grade 9 student at Weyburn Comprehensive High School, he wanted to be an O-lineman.
“When I was growing up, my grandpa was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and Larry Allen was the cream of the crop when it came to offensive linemen,” LaBatte recalled Friday after the Saskatchewan Roughriders held a training-camp workout at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus. “That’s who I grew up watching and who I tried to be like.
“I don’t think you can ever get to that level with a guy who’s that big and that strong, but I’ve given it my best shot and this is where it has ended up.”
Allen played 12 NFL seasons with the Cowboys and two with the San Francisco 49ers before retiring in 2008. The star guard was selected to the Pro Bowl 11 times, was named All-Pro seven times and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
LaBatte, 31, is entering his 11th season in the CFL. He has been named a division all-star eight times, a CFL all-star five times and the league’s most outstanding offensive lineman once — and he’s a virtual lock for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame after he retires.
Just as he looked up to Allen, others look up to LaBatte.
“He does everything right,” Roughriders centre Dan Clark said. “It’s the little things. It’s about being able to drop into any position — centre, guard, tackle, tight end, it doesn’t matter. That man’s mind is always on the job.
“Meeting him in ’12 has made me better. It has made me realize that it’s about doing the little things well and and taking them into a game.”
Roughriders defensive tackle Eddie Steele is well aware of LaBatte’s skill set.
Steele played U Sports football with the University of Manitoba Bisons, so he butted heads regularly with the University of Regina Rams’ star guard.
The two then went head to head in the CFL until Steele signed with the Roughriders in 2017.
“He is so technically sound,” Steele said. “Rarely does the guy ever have a missed assignment and he’s on point as far as the physical work of his technique.
“He’s just a hard worker, man. Blue collar, not a lot of flash to him. He’s just a grinder.”
Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones also used the term “blue collar” to describe LaBatte (whose nickname, ironically, is Blue).
Jones had never coached LaBatte until joining the Roughriders in December of 2015, but Jones since has come to think of LaBatte as “the consummate professional.”
“He’s exactly what you see when you go against him,” said Jones, whose defensive linemen started facing LaBatte in 2008 — the O-lineman’s first season in the CFL.
“You had to bring your lunch pail when you were going against him. You’d have to just come right at him, keep coming at him and very rarely did we beat him.”
After a standout career at the U of R, LaBatte was selected by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2008 draft. After starting 17 games in his first season, he was the Bombers’ nominee for the CFL award as most outstanding rookie.
In his four seasons with Winnipeg, he was named the team’s top O-lineman three times. Since he signed as a free agent with the Roughriders in 2012, the accolades have continued.
“I pay attention to detail,” the 6-foot-4, 320-pounder said when asked to explain his success. “My biggest thing since I came into this league is to do the job that the coach wants done the way that he wants it done.
“I’ve been versatile in terms of adapting to different techniques and never thinking, ‘This is the way I do it and that’s the only way.’ Whatever they want me to do, I’m going to try and adapt my game to do that — and being adaptable is a big thing for an offensive lineman.”
LaBatte primarily has been a left guard since he started playing football, but he can man other positions (as evidenced by his nine-game stint at centre in Clark’s absence last season).
Playing in the same spot has given LaBatte a handle on what to expect from defensive players. So have 10 training camps and 10 seasons in the CFL trenches.
“In my first training camp (with Winnipeg), I was fortunate to have Bob Wylie as an O-line coach who spent an incredible amount of extra time with me after practice,” LaBatte said. “We’d spend hours just working on my first step and stuff like that.
“That’s really the sort of thing that it takes (to succeed): Realizing you need technique to be able to play at this level and if you don’t have it, you’d better get it.”
As LaBatte grinds through his 11th CFL training camp, he remembers being a wide-eyed rookie who didn’t know what to expect or how to handle what came at him.
Now that he has that knowledge, he’s willing to share it with his teammates — and with his 21-year-old self.
“Be level-headed,” LaBatte said when asked what he’d tell Brendon LaBatte the rookie. “You’re going to have bad plays, but it’s all about the next one. Don’t let one play affect the next play because that’s when it can really start to snowball and you’ll get yourself in a big mess.
“As long as you stay level-headed and realize that young guys are going to get beat, that’s part of learning. And have a chuckle at yourself when you get beat; you’ll be a lot better off.”
